Program allegedly saved Catholic Church $62m in sexual abuse claims by capping compensation

The Catholic Church has avoided paying up to $62 million in sexual abuse compensation payouts after creating a program which caps its payments to each victim.

The Melbourne Response program, set up by the church, allowed them to cap its payout to each victim at $50,000, a figure which has since been raised to $75,000.

The Melbourne Response program was established by Cardinal George Pell in 1996 when he was Archbishop of Melbourne.

Cardinal Pell said the payment amount was “based on justice” and in line with similar payments made to victims by the government.

“I have tried to be prudent with money, but my record shows that I have acted compatibly with the general standards of the community and I have tried to be generous,” he testified in 2013.

“In any position in which I have had the lead, we have fully respected the obligation to compensation.”

However, the Melbourne Response Program could have saved the church up to $62 million, with the seven percent of the Melbourne victims who chose to file civil claims against them, or seek mediation, receiving up to $270,000, The Age reports.

The payouts were made despite no one ever winning a lawsuit against the church due to the Ellis Defence, a claim by the Church that the church cannot be sued for compensation as it is not a legal entity.

It is believed the amounts were paid through negotiated settlements.

Figures show the church has paid out $14.8 million to sexual abuse victims.

The executive director of administration for the Catholic archdiocese of Melbourne, Francis Moore, said the figure of $62 million is incorrect.

“The proposition is based on the flawed assumption that victims who have been compensated through the Melbourne Response wanted to go to Court and would have succeeded if they had,” he said.

“The Melbourne Response provides redress and free counselling without having to prove anything in Court.”

The archdiocese of Melbourne was one of many religious sects which refused to renounce the Ellis defence earlier this year, protecting them from such law suits.

Internal documents have also shown church leaders have ordered all written records of sexual abuse be “kept to a minimum” and that it hired a spin doctor named Lauren Kerr in the early 1990s in order to prepare for backlash.

The news comes after former archdiocese vicar-general Bishop Peter Connors referred to pedophile priests within the church preying on parishioners as “time bombs ticking away” at one of a series of hearings at the Royal Commission looking into the Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

The Royal Commission heard testimonies and were presented with records which detailed the church’s ability to protect its reputation and prioritise money over sexual abuse complaints.